Resident Evil: Pathfinders
by DarkSavage
Summary: Story of Umbrella Security Service's Kilo Squad during the outbreak in Raccoon City.


So this is my first submission, comments and constructive criticism is welcome.

One thing that will blatantly obvious is the way the main character speaks, it's English in Scottish slang, so it may get a little confusing.

Thanks and hope everyone enjoys!

**Resident Evil: Pathfinders**

September 22 - U.S.S. Alpha team (Hunk's team) enters Dr. William Birkin's lab to retrieve virus samples

September 25 - U.S.S. Kilo team (Ghost's team) is deployed to Raccoon City to retrieve research data and ascertain Alpha's team's status

September 26 - UBCS forces are deployed in the city and wiped out

September 30 - U.S.S. survivors evacuate the city having completed their missions

October 1 - Mission code: XX, government sanctioned missile deployment to Raccoon City to sterilize the area and contain the outbreak

Desmond Askew – Umbrella Security Service (U.S.S.) Commander

Hunk – U.S.S. Alpha team leader

Ghost (British/Scottish) – U.S.S. Kilo team leader

Gregory Kruglov (Russian) - Kilo team heavy weapons

Brendon Schaper (French/Dutch) - Kilo team electronics specialist

Jeremy Gray (American) - Kilo team Biochemical engineer

Sergei Vladimir - Commander UBCS

Murphy Seeker – UBCS Alpha Platoon, Able Squad

Tyrell Patrick – UBCS Bravo Platoon, Able Squad

**Kilo Deployment - Minus 96 hours, UBCS Deployment – Minus 120 hours**

Jeremy Gray is running through the halls of the facility, the look on his face speaks volumes, something is clearly wrong. He skids to a stop at a security checkpoint and fumbles for his ID for the guard, after being cleared, he adjusts the pile of paperwork and folders for what seemed like the seventh time and continues down the hallway at a dead run. He comes up to a door and flings it open before running in calling out to anyone within earshot.

"Did I miss it?" he asks as he sets down his pile of paperwork on a nearby desk.

There opposite of each other at a table sat one of his fellow members of the Umbrella Security Service's Kilo team and a member of Alpha team; the two soldiers were holding their hands palm down over a lit candle with a shot glass of either water or vodka balanced precariously on top. He looks over toward Gregory Kruglov, the team's heavy weapons specialist and demolitions expert, the man was a former KGB operative before the former Soviet Union collapsed and was scouted to Umbrella for his expertise in weapons and explosives; he was currently holding a half empty bottle of vodka and cheering on the two competitors. Sitting and competing in the event was Brendon Schaper, former French Navy and holder of an electronics engineering degree, he handled any of the teams electronics needs; to the man's credit, his hand was sitting perfectly still over the flame while the Alpha team member was starting to shake. Gray laughed to himself at the sight as he pulled his wallet out and made a bet favoring Schaper. Gray had served in the U.S. Army during the Gulf War as a medic and used the GI Bill to pay his way through MIT and a biochemical engineering degree; and he was recruited into Umbrella just prior to his graduating third in his class.

"Whit's a' this then Gray?" Came a voice from behind him.

Gray turned around to find not just his squad leader, but Alpha team's leader as well.

"Uh, um, well Sarge, um; Corporal Kruglov had the idea of attempting the 'feel the burn' since we're not on standby or anything." Gray said laughing nervously.

Gray's squad leader, a man only known as 'Ghost' was a tall man, well-built and muscular, said to have served time in the SAS before being scouted by Umbrella; the other squad leader, went by 'Hunk' was also tall and well built. Both men had served with Umbrella for years and were considered hands down, the two deadliest men in Umbrella's employ.

"Who's winning?" Asked Hunk.

"Mr. Schaper I think, I just walked in; that's who I always put my money on anyways." Gray said chuckling.

Just then, one of the competitors groaned in pain, grabbed the shot glass in their other hand and plunged the hand they were using into a bucket of ice sitting on the floor next to him. Kruglov roared in approval before taking a long pull at the bottle he was holding, he then poured some into several cups and glasses for the other men in the room. Ghost watched as Schaper pulled his hand out of the ice bucket next to him and gently shook the water off before drinking his vodka shot. Kruglov started asking around trying to find two more competitors having no success before his gaze landed on the two squad leaders.

"Da! Sergeants go next!" He called out waving toward the table and chairs, the assembled men started chanting the squad leader's names in a feeble attempt to encourage them.

Ghost rolled his eyes and looked at Hunk, who merely shrugged. The two sergeants walked over to the table and sat down; Ghost flexed his left hand cracking his knuckles as he watched Kruglov fill his shot glass. The Russian then took another pull on the bottle, emptying it and making another bottle seemingly appear out of thin air to fill Hunk's glass; he would have to monitor how much alcohol the man was able to get his hands on in the future. Ghost glanced around and noticed several members of the UBCS unit cheering; he then looked across the table at Hunk as he set his glass on top of his hand and held it over the lit candle, Hunk winked before doing the same.

"Mr. Seeker, we're both ready." Hunk said not taking his gaze from Ghost.

The UBCS member started timing with a stop watch and Ghost noticed money trading hands several times as the time continued; ironically, a hush fell over the assembled men as the timer passed the four minute mark and neither of the two men's hands so much as twitched. The door opened and closed and another UBCS member walked in, Ghost and Hunk both nodded in recognition at Tyrell Patrick, who merely adjusted his glasses and spoke with Gray before pulling out his own wallet and placing a bet.

"Murphy, what's the time?" Patrick asked.

"Just ticked over the nine minute mark." Seeker called out.

A couple of the other men in the room had taken to looking at the two squad leaders hands from the table view, calling out that one or the other was starting to shake; Hunk chuckled at this and the two looked over at Murphy Seeker.

"Time Mr. Seeker?" Ghost asked.

"Eleven minutes and thirty seconds: thirty-one, thirty-two, thirty-three." Seeker continued to count.

At twelve minutes, both squad leaders nodded to each other subtly and as one, they flung the shot glasses into the air, caught them by the bottoms, brought them to their mouths, downed the liquor, and slammed the glasses bottom up onto the table before plunging their hands into the ice. The crowd roared with approval before money started changing hands and more liquor was drunk. The two sergeants stood and grasped hands to wrists and shook before ordering their assembled squads to the muster yard for a run; the UBCS members quickly disappeared before they could be caught in the gravity of the changing situation.

**Kilo Deployment - Minus 72 hours, UBCS Deployment – Minus 96 hours**

The next day Hunk and Ghost were in a briefing with several other team leaders from both U.S.S. and UBCS units. Sergei Vladimir was briefing the assembled group on the reasoning behind the units being put on standby alert, all members that were on leave or otherwise not on the base were being called in; equipment was being checked and issues were to be handled before close of business that day. After that, the UBCS members were dismissed and the U.S.S. members were told to stay and briefed on an entirely different nature.

"Gentlemen, we have a situation developing with one of our research laboratories. We've learned that Dr. William Birkin is attempting to sell his recent development of the new G-Virus to the United States government; we cannot allow this." Said Desmond Askew, one of the commanders of the U.S.S.

"Kilo team stauns duin sur." Ghost said.

"Not this time Ghost, Alpha team will enter the laboratory and secure the samples from Dr. Birkin and exfiltrate from their insertion point outside of the sewers; alternate extraction is from the roof of the Raccoon Police headquarters. Kilo team will remain on standby in case Alpha team needs assistance; that will be all for now, all units will remain on standby alert until further notice."

The other leaders went their ways as Ghost and Hunk found maps of the sewers, Birkin's lab, parts of the surrounding city and of the police station; they went over the insertion area, Hunk's plan of securing the lab in case Birkin tried to escape and ways for the team to escape in case the situation didn't go as planned. They worked most of the evening and Ghost made sure for what seemed to be the fourth time that his team was ready to deploy at a moment's notice. Ghost finally trudged back to his room, sat down on his bunk, and leaned his head against the wall; he looked over at a picture he had mounted to a wall bracket of a young woman with a warm smile and strawberry-blonde colored hair, she was dressed in medical scrubs and holding a clipboard. Clearly embarrassed by having her picture taken; he smiled as he looked at the picture, letting his mind drift. He awoke suddenly when he heard his pager rattle off the end table next to his bed; he rubbed his eyes as he scooped up his pager and read the small screen smiling at the message.

_Hey love, tried calling the number you gave me but I guess you were busy; call me when you can, love you!_

Ghost chuckled to himself as he picked up the receiver and dialed the familiar number.

**Kilo Deployment - Minus 48 hours, UBCS Deployment – Minus 72 hours**

Ghost stood in the command center watching the map of Raccoon City that he had brought up on a monitor; he glanced at the radio display checking the signals again and sighed. He had been like this for several hours waiting to hear any word from Alpha team or the go code for his own team, he finally decided to get something to eat and would come back later; he grabbed something from the mess hall and went back to his room. When he walked into his room his phone was ringing, he set his food down and answered the phone, almost knocking his drink over.

"Hello?"

"Hey baby!" Came the familiar woman's voice

"Hey love, caught me as ah wis traivelin in; howfur ur yer finals gaun?" He asked.

"Ugh, I'm ready for them to be over! I didn't think becoming a nurse was this difficult; yes, the experience interning is helpful, but the hours are driving me crazy. How's your work going, do we get to see each other this weekend? My parents are actually excited to meet you!" He could hear the smile in her voice.

"Wish ah cuid love, bit mah unit's bin pat oan standby alert; some bloke dropped something in a lab 'n' noo we hae tae gang mak' sure he didnae soil his-sel, 'n' ah cannae lea th' base 'til thay either staun us doon or we actually git sent in; sorry lassie." Ghost replied with sincerity.

"Well that sucks, but I thought you were just part of a security detail? Do you know where they'd be sending you?"

"A'm pairt o' a biohazard security aw the wee bits; we hulp wi' wash up 'n' company sensitive materials as weel as asset protection. Far as ah ken, somewhere up near th' Arklay Mountains; ken ony guid pubs up thare?"

"Nope, nothing about any pubs, although if you're near Raccoon City I hear J's Bar is pretty good; my cousin lives there."

"Weel, if a'm near thare, ah will hae tae keek intae it; sae tell me whit exactly ye tellt yer parents aboot me that git thaim sae excited."

They talked well into the evening and night, Ghost's pager had gone off advising that Alpha team had entered the lab and made contact with Dr. Birkin, and nothing else had been heard from them in some time. The two said their goodbyes and ended the conversation, Ghost ate the leftover sandwich he had from earlier and went to check on his team; he was starting to get a feeling that something was going wrong.

**Kilo Deployment - minus 0 hours, UBCS Deployment – Minus 12 hours**

Ghost was sitting on the side of his bed when his pager went off; he looked down at the display and bolted from his room, running as fast as he could to get to the command center. When he got there, he saw Commander Askew looking over a map with his brow furrowed; the man's expression didn't change when he saw Ghost enter the room.

"Sur?" Ghost asked as he came to a stop in front of the man.

"There's been a viral outbreak in Raccoon City and we have lost contact with Alpha and Echo teams."

"Ye sent in Echo sur?"

"They were outside of the city near the Arklay facility when Alpha went in, we redirected them to assist and now we have lost contact with all our facilities in the Raccoon area."

"Whin dae we go sur?" Ghost asked anticipation in his voice.

"As soon as you are able to, we need to secure research data from the outlying facilities before the military decides to go into the city in force. We've told them that there is a strong possibility of a biohazard contamination in the immediate area of the city, they're buying it for now and have formed a perimeter around the city and surrounding area. Your team will deploy to the outlying facilities and retrieve all the research data you can."

"Whit aboot Birkin's lab sur, have we heard anything from any other teams in the area?"

"No, and that is concerning; Bravo team will deploy to Birkin's laboratory and the waste processing facility and retrieve the data packets from both sites. Your primary concern will be the outlying facilities and the data stored in them, then attempt to ascertain what happened to Alpha team and assist if they need. Sergei will be deploying the UBCS in a company sized force with the intention of assisting the Raccoon City police in securing the city and evacuating the civilians."

"Whit ur th' figures lik' sur?"

"This is a class three viral outbreak Ghost, you know what that means; I will advise if the situation changes."

"Yes sur." Ghost replied before turning and running from the control room.

He ran back to his room and started putting on his gear, his gaze landed on the picture and then drifted to the phone; he finished securing his vest, then picked up the receiver, and dialed the number, it rang a few times before the answering machine picked up; he sighed before leaving a message.

"Awright love, tis me; mah unit git activated 'n' we're headed toward Raccoon City, nae sure whit's gaun oan bit th' higher ups wants mair fowk thare, sae, um; juist watch th' tellybox 'n' ah will ring whin ah git a chance. Love ye."

He hung up the phone and reached behind it unplugging it; he then took the photo frame, slid the picture out, and stuck it in his shirt pocket before grabbing his weapon, helmet, and mask and leaving the room. He didn't like the fact that he lied, but the less she knew the better, he didn't even know what was going on and wasn't going to give her false promises if this mission went sideways. Command was also leaving something out, he wasn't sure what but he had to be ready to adapt to any changes that might occur when they got to Raccoon City; at least they weren't going in alone this time.

...

The helicopter flew in just over the tops of the buildings on its way to the designated drop zone; Gray was watching the streets below as several local cops attempted to corner and subdue a group of the reanimated; he shook his head as he re-attached the scope to his rifle.

"You can clearly see the skin degeneration as the virus progresses."

"What is best way to kill them?" Kruglov asked.

"Well, you can detach the spinal cord from the base of the brain stem, heavy blunt force trauma does that; or in a pinch, a bullet to the head works too." Gray replied.

"Listen up, we've git four labs tae git tae; whin the high heid yins stairted losing contact wi' th' labs thay weren't able tae git data transfers stairted, sae we git tae go in 'n' dae it by hand; whin we git that dane, we huv a go 'n' fin' Alpha team 'n' ascertain thair status. Bravo team is oan th' ground bit thay hae thair ain orders; so we bade th'gither, watch ilk other's back 'n' we don't stoap fur a'body; git it?" Ghost said.

Schaper was fussing over a small laptop before sliding it into a small pack and shaking his head.

"Something wrong Schaper?"

"This computer is shit; I'm not sure how big the data packets are going to be and the battery on this thing will last maybe under two hours, I'm carrying a couple more and I've got a few data sticks."

"What is problem then?" Kruglov asked

"I'm not seeing one either." Gray added.

"We could be talking about terabytes or even teraquads of data for just one packet; and that could be just preliminary notes; what about all the reams of paper data?" Schaper replied.

"Wur 'ere fur specific data, whin we git tae th' supercomputers cuid ye re-establish a link wi' yin o' th' main offices 'n' dae th' transfers that wey?" Ghost asked.

"Well, yes, I suppose I could, but; there are just too many unknowns."

"We'll fin' oot whin we git thare." Ghost replied as he opened the side door; he surveyed the landscape as the helicopter started hovering.

"This is as close as I can get you guys, you may have to go a ways on foot." the pilot called back.

The four-man squad slid down to the roof and started toward the nearest research lab; they avoided the main streets of the city, going around barricades and blocked routes when they couldn't take a direct way. They eventually found the first research facility.

"A clinic?" Gray asked as they walked in the front door.

"You'd be surprised at what the company comes up with." Schaper said with a laugh.

The silence was broken by a soft moan from behind the reception desk, the squad turned to find the receptionist and several others had been turned by the viral outbreak but were stuck behind the glass partition, there was another high-pitched scream and one of the zombies fell with its head and part of its shoulders removed. In its place stood a short, green colored scaly creature that took a long look at the team before shrieking again and throwing itself at the glass partition.

"Hunter!" Ghost called out bringing up his MP5 sub machine gun and opening fire on the creature.

The glass exploded outwards as the creature made contact with the partition, it growled and screamed again as the rounds from the team started to impact; a blast from Schaper's shotgun sent the creature back into the receptionist's area killing it.

"Kruglov, on point; Schaper, behind him; Gray and I will cover behind, move out." Ghost ordered as the squad moved deeper into the medical building.

They boarded an elevator and headed down into the lower part of the clinic, and into the research center proper; when the door opened and the squad fanned out they saw an Umbrella researcher come around a hallway corner in a panic.

"Oh thank god, are you with Umbrella?"

"Umbrella Security Service's Kilo team; are you the only survivor sur?" Ghost asked coming forward.

"I'm the only one that managed to get out before the containment doors sealed; why, are you here to rescue us?" The researcher asked.

"The research data, were you able to get the landline backup started?" Schaper asked.

"What, why does that matter?"

"Yes or no?" Kruglov asked irritation in his voice.

"One of the others tried, but the sequence was interrupted by those things."

"Git us back intae th' lab, we need tae git that data transfer stairted; we'll then git ye tae an evacuation point." Ghost ordered.

The group walked back down the corridor a little ways and came to a large sealed shutter; the researcher swiped his ID card and entered a key code sequence before taking a step back and watching the shutter slowly lift; Gray gently pulled him back to stand behind the squad as the doorway was revealed. The squad slowly walked into the large lab room searching for any of the creatures or the reanimated, the researcher shuffled in behind them mumbling about how they had no warning before people started showing up at the hospital demanding help. He and some of the other staff attempted to help as best that they could, but the amount of people soon became overwhelming and those that were seriously infected turned in the lobby and started infecting the other people.

Schaper found the main computer and started running the remote data transfer process; the researcher was still mumbling when he straightened suddenly.

"Doc, you all right?" Gray asked taking a step toward the man.

Blood started running from the man's mouth in a trickle and he grunted in pain before a large claw ripped through his back and out the front of his chest and pulled him up into the ceiling, the last they heard of the man was his scream as he died.

"Spread out!" Ghost ordered.

"Schaper, talk to me."

"Almost done." He called back before bringing up his shotgun and peppering the ceiling with a load of buckshot.

The creature burst from one of the air vents and landed on a gurney, it was the color of pinkish muscle tissue and had an exposed brain, it hissed loudly and an elongated tongue slithered out of its mouth as it clicked its claws on the side of the gurney. Kruglov wasted no time in opening up with his machine gun, shooting the creature with a dozen rounds before it leapt straight at him; he dove under a desk as Schaper fired at it, the creature took the full force of the buck shot sending it toward a cabinet. It twisted in midair like a cat and flung itself toward Gray, who fired a burst into the creature's leg; it spun into a cabinet shrieking. Schaper pumped several rounds from his shotgun into the maimed creature as its shrieking turned into a gurgle as it finally died.

"What the hell was that?" Gray almost shrieked.

"That looked like a B.O.W." Schaper said reloading his shotgun.

"Nyet, Hunters down below B.O.W.s, not that thing." Kruglov replied kicking the bloody corpse.

"What the hell is a B.O.W.?" Gray asked with growing concern.

"You don't know?" Kruglov replied.

"Bio Organic Weapon; we don't hae time tae git intae this richt now Gray, ye kin look it a' up whin we git back tae base." Ghost said as he checked a side office.

"Wait, since when does the company make mutant weapons?" Gray asked.

"Company has contracts with government; not just pharmaceutical." Kruglov replied before taking a drink from his canteen.

"I still don't get it, genetic manipulation I understand; which that thing clearly was, but, but why?"

"Gray, we don't hae time tae bugger on about this; if it mak's yer feelin' ony better, oan th' way oot cook th' damn thing." Ghost replied before turning to Schaper.

"Tell me you're done, please."

"Finishing now, we can go." He replied packing away his laptop.

"Right then; Kruglov, take us out."

The team left the small lab and Gray tossed in a phosphorous grenade behind them; the lab went up in flames and several small explosions as they exited the hospital. They continued on for some time, eventually getting on the rooftops; they had stopped on one while Ghost found a way to the next facility. Schaper had dozed off on his pack, Kruglov was finishing cleaning his weapon, and Ghost was fussing over the city map and the route he was trying to plan out, while Gray paced around on the roof watching the horror below.

"It seems almost peaceful up here, kind of makes you forget what's going on down below." He said to no one in particular.

Gray squinted as he tried to see in the distance, he heard Kruglov charge his weapon having finished cleaning it and walk up to stand next to him.

"Doesn't look like a class three outbreak from up here does it?"

"It almost look like the LA riots." Kruglov said with a shrug.

"Yeah, just with fewer people." Gray replied bringing up his weapon and looking through the scope.

He finally saw what he was trying to see, three local cops were digging through cars and peering through windows in an attempt to find survivors. A window across the street blew out and a pair of Hunters leapt out on top of one of the cops, tearing him apart. The other two took a few pot shots at the creatures before turning and running down an alley near the building Kilo team was on; Gray flicked the safety switch on his weapon and started aiming at the creatures.

"Down you go freaks."

Before he could fire the muzzle of his weapon was pushed down, ruining his aim and his shot; irritated, Gray looked into the dark colored lenses of Ghost before speaking.

"What the hell?"

"Save yer ammo, they're deid anyway." Ghost replied.

"Are you kidding me, we can help them."

"Bollocks, ah said oan th' helicopter we don't stoap fur a'body; 'n' whin th' situation is reversed, whit then? hawp there's some team that juist happens tae be standing oan a nearby rooftop willing tae murdurr whitevur is chasing ye?"

"Two shots, that's all it would have taken." Gray retorted.

"You're trying tae play hero Gray, we don't hae time fur that."

"What if they were Umbrella employees, you'd have shot."

"Employees have evacuation plan to follow, not wander through streets waiting for pickup." Kruglov added.

"You cannot seriously be that cold hearted!"

"Enough Gray! focus oan oor mission, UBCS wull be deploying in a few hours tae assist th' Raccoon Police in evacuations; 'til then, it's juist us 'n' thae hings. Noo c'moan, we hae a lot o' ground tae cover tae git tae th' neist lab. " Ghost said as he started walking in a different direction.

Gray watched Schaper put his pack back on and follow Ghost along the rooftop; he looked over at Kruglov who was waiting for him, he glanced back toward the running cops as they were overtaken by a group of zombies; he shook his head as he moved to catch up with the rest of the squad.

They continued for some time on the rooftops until they were forced to go to the street level by a building fire, they had to contend with a group of reanimated before they were able to continue toward their objective. They were stopped short again by a makeshift road block that was manned by several police officers; Ghost ordered them to drop into the sewers to avoid them, much to Gray's dismay.

"I still don't see why we can't just help them out, we can still complete our mission."

"If we stoap 'n' hulp thaim, they'll huv a go 'n' tell us tae bade 'n' continue tae hulp thaim; we're nae 'ere tae hulp local law enforcement. We hae oor orders, if we git re-tasked whin oor mission is complete, then we'll gie thaim a' th' hulp we kin, 'til then; tis juist better that thay dinnae even ken that we're in th' toon." Ghost replied as he compared maps of the sewer system and above ground city.

Gray seemed to mull this over as he looked around for any kind of indication of their whereabouts.

"You keep trying to play hero Gray." Kruglov said

"No, I'm just not as cold hearted as the rest of you it seems." Gray replied.

"Thir's nothing wrong wi' that wey o' thinking Gray; it juist doesn't apply tae th' situation at haun or Umbrella, that's a'." Ghost added.

"I just refuse to believe that there's nothing we can do to help."

"Lea it alone Gray, we dinnae hae time fur it." Ghost said sighing.

"In the Gulf we helped people!"

"You can't compare what's going on here with the Gulf War Gray." Schaper said looking up from his laptop.

"It just, I just can't." Gray started to reply but trailed off when he saw Ghost had fixed him with a glare.

"Noo insae th' time fur reminiscing; yi'll waant tae save fowk, hawp we fin' mair company personnel; mibbie that wull set yer conscience at ease."

"Alright, fine; I'll shut up about it." Gray said holding his hands up.

"Whin we git back tae base feel free tae mak' a report tae the high heid yins; ah wull mak' note in mah report that ye disagreed wi' operational parameters, a'richt?" Ghost said putting a reassuring hand on Gray's shoulder.

Gray simply nodded in reply.

"Got it!" Kruglov called out from a top a ladder leading back up to the surface.

The squad exited onto a street in front of a bar, the neon sign was still powered and blinking softly.

"J's Bar?" Kruglov asked.

"Looks intact boss, we can get a better idea of where we are; plus they might still have some food in there." Schaper added.

Ghost looked at his watch and then back up at the bar before speaking.

"Right, I could go for a pint richt aboot noo."

The squad made their way into the bar and with some effort, barricaded the doors and the windows as best they could with the tables and booths. They set up a small makeshift camp near the kitchen and set about easing the tension that had been building up since they gotten dropped into what was becoming a dying city. Schaper started rummaging around the kitchen looking to try and cook something while Gray looked around in an attempt to replenish some of their supplies; Kruglov settled into a bar stool and took a passing inventory of the stock of alcohol; Ghost managed to find a menu and was reading it chuckling to himself.

"Think they hae a gid Sheppard's bridie 'ere?"

"I wouldn't hold breath, vodka choices are pitiful at best." Kruglov replied picking up a bottle and scrutinizing over the label.

"I got to know Kruglov, you had to have been a bar tender back in the Soviet Union; I don't know anyone that is so critical of their alcohol like you are." Gray said laughing.

"I have good taste in drink." Kruglov replied.

"All you drink is vodka!" Schaper called out from the kitchen.

"What? Vodka is good!"

"Laddie, ye cuid stairt a motor wi' that stuff ye bring in fae Russia." Ghost added laughing.

"It good then, put hair on chest; why is American and British beer taste like water and piss?"

The team stayed for a short time before starting toward their second objective; they again stayed on the rooftops until finally Ghost said that they had arrived. They pulled one of the air vent covers off and made their way into the building, the large air vents started to get smaller as they got into the building proper forcing the team to exit the vent shaft into what appeared to be an office building. The team dropped in one by one and on instinct fanned out around the confined corridor, they found their way down via a stairwell and upon reaching the ground floor they encountered a survivor hiding under a desk.

"Who are you guys?" The man asks as he stands up.

"We're wi' Umbrella, wha urr ye?" Ghost replies.

"I'm George, I'm a security guard for the bank down the street; I came in here trying to find a way to get to higher ground, what's going on in this town?"

"Biohazard outbreak, you should go try and get to a shelter, it's safer for you." Gray responded.

"No way, you guys are armed to the teeth, I'll stick with you; besides, I can lend another gun to help out." He said pulling a clearly outdated revolver from a hip holster and spinning the cylinder.

Ghost rolled his eyes behind his mask before stalking toward the elevator with his team in tow, he realized that the security guard was following and he stopped short.

"What's wrong?" The guard asked.

"Keek laddie, nothing personal, bit thare ur hings doon thare that ur sensitive company property 'n' ye juist cannae come wi' us; why dinnae ye bade up 'ere 'n' mak' sure nothing gets in, eh?" Ghost said.

"What do I do if more survivors come?"

"Weel, we're nae sure howfur lang we'll be doon thare, sae if mair fowk come 'n' yer feelin' safe enough tae shift oan; dinnae hauld yer horses oan us." Ghost replied.

"Um, ok." The guard said watching the team enter a small elevator with growing anxiety.

The elevator started descending toward the underground lab when Gray broke the silence.

"We're not going back for him when we get done are we?"

"Nae if we kin hulp it." Ghost replied coldly.

"He's armed, he can take of himself." Kruglov added.

"Yeah, even though he looks more likely to blow his foot off than hit anything else with that thing." Schaper added starting to chuckle.

The elevator door opened and the team moved toward the sealed door at the end of a small hallway, halfway down the hallway they heard a soft moan and a figure shuffled out from an alcove that was set aside for the day to day security guards tasked with keeping facilities safe; the guard had been exposed and turned by the time the team had arrived. Before the zombie could get far from its alcove a burst from Ghost's weapon put it on the ground dead; the team reached the door and Schaper opened it with the access card taken from the scientist they had found in the first facility. They moved into the secured part of the facility and started toward what would be the heart of it, encountering several more of the reanimated and some of the smaller BOWs and eliminated them with ease; when they reached the central research area they found several water filled tanks with different specimens in different stages of development, Gray stopped and peered into one of the tanks. Through the cloudy tank he could see what appeared to be a Hunter in a stage of mutation; instead of the green scaly versions they had seen in the clinic, this one was a bluish Gray color with an enlarged mouth and webbed finger like hands in place of claws; the plate at the bottom of the tank read 'Gamma', Gray shrugged before continuing on. They came up to what appeared to be a main console and Schaper pulled out his laptop and connected to the mainframe, after a few minutes he started the connection for the remote transfers; when suddenly the system stopped and went into a standby mode, the lights in the facility dimmed at the apparent power loss.

"Merdeux!" Schaper cursed slapping the computer panel.

"Whit's wrong?" Ghost asked switching on the attached light on his weapon.

Kruglov put a headband on with an attached light that he then turned on after fiddling with it briefly, Gray had a light attached to his helmet that he clicked on, Schaper turned on a military L shaped light that he then clipped to his vest to add to the glow from his laptop.

"The power is dropping, we may have to reroute it from elsewhere." Schaper said clearly distracted.

"Talk me through it." Gray replied looking around.

Schaper pointed toward a junction box across the room and gave a brief set of instructions on what to do to restore power to the area. Kruglov and Ghost spread out and looked for other forms of light; Gray opened the junction box and was making the adjustments that Schaper was calling out to him, when the adjustments were complete the lights started to come back on but it wasn't enough. Schaper cursed again and pulled up a map on his laptop, pointing out an electrical area he said that he would have to go make adjustments to get the power back on.

The group moved further into the facility finding run down offices and labs, they finally found the maintenance area and the panel that Schaper needed; he pulled the panel open and started working on getting power routed back to the main computers. In a few moments the power came back on and they made their way back to the main area; along the way they heard one of the large bulkhead doors opening and heard moaning coming from a group of reanimated scientists that shuffled through. Schaper threw a grenade at the doorway as Kruglov opened up with his machine gun, Ghost dropped to one knee and was firing at stragglers.

"Behind us!" Gray called out turning and firing at another group.

Ghost pivoted and added to Gray's fire; Gray dropped to one knee to reload and before rising he fired a grenade from his mounted grenade launcher at the doorway the zombies were using. The group moved quickly back toward the main area; Schaper finished starting up the power grid and got the lights to come back on; he then started on the network linkup and data transfer.

"Ammo check, a'body." Ghost called out.

"Couldn't hurt to find more." Kruglov replied checking his pouches.

"Right then; Schaper, you have a schematic on this place?"

"Oui, transfer is at 40%, there is an armory on the way out; apparently there was a permanent UBCS team here."

"Permanent UBCS team, what the hell for?" Gray asked.

"I don't know, it doesn't say here." Schaper replied.

Suddenly, there was a loud crash that came from deeper in the lab; Kruglov and Gray immediately brought their weapons up in the direction.

"Schaper." Ghost said impatiently.

The next sounds they heard was the clattering of metal grates and the clicking of claws on the floors.

"That doesn't sound good." Gray said checking the load on his weapon.

In response, several of the hunter creatures bounded up a set of stairs; one of the Gamma breeds showing signs of heavy mutation stalked forward and eyed the team curiously, it chittered briefly with its fellows before screeching loudly; it then charged forward with several others.

"Well shit!" Kruglov cursed before opening fire.

Gray fired another of his rifle grenades at the oncoming horde; the incendiary impacted on the creature to the lead Gamma's side sending it and several others flying in different directions.

"SCHAPER!" Ghost screamed after dropping another creature.

The electronics engineer fired a slug round up into the vents before looking over at his computer; he squinted through the lenses of his mask while chambering another round.

"It's done!" He called out slinging his shotgun and grabbing his laptop; he quickly un-hooked the cables and stuffed it into his pack, grabbing his shotgun again he fired at one hunter as it was leaping at Gray, the slug round caught the creature full in the chest and sent it into some of the others.

"How many of these damn things are there?" Kruglov asked firing a burst into a small group.

"The lab computer said that this was the breeding ground and the majority of the Hunter types were stored here prior to distribution." Schaper called back as he opened the door leading out toward the exit.

"Bound back toward Schaper lads, use grenades!" Ghost called out as he reloaded.

The three soldiers threw fragmentation grenades as they bounded back toward the doors where Schaper was waiting with a grenade of his own readied. When they reached the door, Schaper threw his grenade and Gray fired one from his rifle to stop pursuit; the squad then started the door closing sequence while still moving back toward the armory. They stopped short when the Gamma Hunter leapt through the door, it was quickly blown apart from fire but parts of it got stuck in the door track and it ground to a squealing halt.

"Shit!" Ghost cursed slinging his weapon, running to the door, and starting to try and push the two together.

He was quickly joined by Kruglov and Gray, with all three pushing they managed to get the doors to slide a partial inch closer; but the Hunter was now ground well into the door tracks.

"Schaper, the door!" Ghost called out.

The engineer was already pulling the control panel off and attempting to release the locks so they could push the doors closed. A harsh scream emanated from the other room and Kruglov stepped in between the gap bringing up his weapon.

"Push! I hold them!" He barked before opening up with the machine gun.

The door continued to groan loudly before smoke started billowing up from the gaps in the wall. The screeching was getting louder again and Kruglov let off another burst, his weapon then clicked with a jam; he immediately stepped back and attempted to clear it while Ghost and Gray filled the gap and opened fire before any of the creatures could try and gain any more footing.

"Bollocks tae this! Kruglov, uise yin o' yer mines; Schaper, git tae that armory 'n' git th' door open, ye'v git two minutes; move!"

Schaper ran down the hallway as fast as he could; he stopped at an unmarked door and used a key card he found in the maintenance area to get the door open, it hissed open and he flicked the light switch on and started rummaging around for any more explosives; he found a couple and heard Kruglov's weapon firing again. Gray arrived and started grabbing boxes of ammunition and stuffing them into his pack and pockets.

"They're coming, hurry up!" Gray said to Schaper before getting back up with a handful of grenades.

Schaper handed him the explosives he found and then started grabbing boxes of shotgun shells as fast as he could stuff his pockets. Ghost stepped in and did likewise before running out with a pair of incendiary grenades; Kruglov was last and grabbed what he could find before running out. The squad then made for the exit leaving their improvised ordinance and whatever else they could to try and slow any remaining Hunters that were chasing them. They hit the exit and kept going ignoring the shouts and calls from a few startled police officers; they got back onto a building roof and were finally able to get a breathier.

"Bloody hell." Ghost said looking back over the side of the building.

"Those little bastards are fast." Gray said hunched over.

"How many did we get?" Kruglov asked.

"Doesn't maiter noo, gear up; we need tae keep movin'." Ghost interrupted while placing a fresh magazine in his weapon and looking at his watch.

The team continued but was forced down onto the streets for a time, they came to what looked like city hall but the gate was closed, Schaper looked at the clock like locking device sitting next to it and noticed that it was missing what looked like two jewels; he continued to look at it sideways for a minute then shrugged and jogged back toward the team. They went into a taller building that turned out to be where the local newspaper was headquartered; with all the commotion that was going on around the city, they were surprised to find the building mostly undamaged. They went up to the top floor and found it cluttered with papers and clippings, they cleared a small area and made a makeshift camp; Kruglov pulled a portable camping stove from his pack and he and Schaper immediately started arguing about what to cook, Gray was looking out the window at everything going on down in the streets.

"Dinnae jump juist yit, we aye need ye." Ghost said walking up to him.

"No intention of that, just wish there was more I could do to help people. When I fought in the Gulf I was a medic, I was able to help people; I just feel helpless running around behind the scenes."

"Thir's nae a thing wrong wi' bein' a hero type, oor mission requires us tae shift fleet 'n' evade detection; ye wur special forces, ye ken howfur it goes."

"I was a Ranger actually; did you serve in the military before Umbrella scouted you?"

"Aye ah did, ah wis pairt o' th' Special Air Service." Ghost replied pulling his helmet and mask off.

"You were SAS, I'm impressed, I thought you were Royal Marines at least."

"Nope; 'n' afore ye ask, aye, ah wis in th' Gulf as weel."

"So you understand what I'm talking about then."

"Ah ne'er said ah disagreed wi' ye, we hae a narrow windae tae complete oor goals 'ere; th' sooner we complete thaim, mibbie we kin len' a haun tae UBCS, tis a' up tae the high heid yins though."

"Yeah, I see what you're saying; sorry if I've been acting up." Gray said having pulled off his own mask and helmet.

"Yer heart's in th' richt steid laddie, dinnae become cauld hearted lik' th' rest o' us."

Gray was about to say more when the argument between Kruglov and Schaper became more heated; Ghost shook his head before walking back to them, Gray a couple steps behind.

"Lads, just cook something; it doesn't matter whit."

They finally agreed on something and after they had eaten, they agreed to rest for a while before continuing on to the third lab; Ghost divvied up rotations for a meager watch while Kruglov and Gray attempted to barricade the office doors. Kruglov set a couple of mines he had taken from the armory on the stairwell to act as an early warning system, they came back to see Ghost and Schaper prying open one of the windows on the far side of the area they were in as a quick escape route.

"Leads richt oot tae th' building neist door, wi' Kruglov's mines 'n' th' fire escape 'ere; in theory, we kin git oot in a hurry." Ghost said looking over their laid out plans.

Gray awoke suddenly feeling like something bad was about to happen, he sat up and looked around; finding Ghost over by the open window looking out into the streets. He got up and walked over to him, looking out onto a completely different city than they had deployed to mere hours before.

"What happened?"

"Fires, explosions, a' yer typical post apocalyptic stuff ye fin' in airport science fiction novels." Ghost replied without taking his eyes from the streets.

"Better git yer gear back oan, a'm waantin' us tae be gaen afore someone or something decides tae come this wey." He added looking down at his watch.

"Are we on a time crunch boss?" Gray asked sliding on his boots and lacing them tightly.

"Nae yit, bit ah dinnae wantae be in yin steid fur tae lang." Ghost said walking over to where Schaper and Kruglov were.

He nudged them awake and got them to start getting their equipment together; Gray was by the window watching the streets when he heard the sound of helicopters in the distance.

"Boss, chopers coming in." He called back to Ghost.

Ghost looked at his watch and then walked over to the window.

"UBCS puttin` oot; thay hae orders tae assist th' local polis wi' evacuations; oor orders aye staun."

"Are we allowed to help them if they need it?" Gray asked.

"Ainlie if everything goes pear shaped fur thaim; a'd ower thaim nae even ken that we're 'ere in th' toon, let alone conducting whit cuid be construed as clandestine operations." Ghost replied.

Gray nodded, unlike earlier, he seemed to understand their need for speed and discretion. Too much of a deviation could result in their mission failing or worse.

**Elsewhere...**

The woman walked into the house and could smell what her mother was cooking, it smelled like a mixture of spices and she smiled warmly as she walked into the kitchen. Her mother turned around and managed to grin happily with her mouth full; the two hugged and, covering her mouth while she finished chewing her mother was finally able to say hello.

"What's for dinner mom?" The younger woman asked.

"I'm trying a new recipe, different spices and different way to prepare it; take a look."

The younger woman pulled the lid off the pot and inhaled the aroma of the meal being cooked; she picked up a spoon and tried some of the contents.

"You're making curry!" she said excitedly.

"I told you that you should have been a chef." Her mother replied.

"Like Dad always says, if you enjoy something it's a hobby; I love cooking, I just don't think I would enjoy doing it for a living. Besides, I actually enjoy my job; I like helping people."

"Well, your father is always one for his little sayings." Her mother replied, stirring the contents of her pot.

"Is dad home yet?"

"I think he's out in the living room sweetie."

The girl walked out of the kitchen and into the other room and found her father sitting on the couch watching the TV intently.

"Hi Daddy!" She said upon seeing him.

"Hey sweetheart, when did you get in?"

"Just now, what are you watching?"

"The news has some breaking story going on, some kind of outbreak in some mountain town."

The girl sat down next to her father and listened in on the broadcast, the reporter was giving a brief summary of what they knew of what was going on; they then cut to what appeared to be a field reporter who had more information.

"Thank you Olivia; I'm here approximately ten miles from the town of Raccoon City at the military's forward operating base; officials are telling us that there has been what they are calling a biohazardous outbreak. As of now the military has cordoned off an area ten miles around the city and declared the airspace a no fly zone to all air traffic, but as you can see behind me, helicopters are circling the area."

"Do we know what caused the outbreak Zack?"

"To answer that standing next to me here is Mr. Allen Grant with Umbrella Corporation; Mr. Grant, what can you tell us?"

"I can tell you this, it is an outbreak that has affected the city and the immediate area surrounding it. We have teams inside the city attempting to determine what kind of an outbreak we're dealing with here and how to contain it from spreading any further." He replied in a crisp British accent.

"Do we know how it's spreading sir?" Zack asked him.

"We do know that it is not airborne, however the military is evacuating the surrounding regions just to be safe. When we know more from our teams on the ground I'll be sure to let you know."

The woman was sitting on the edge of the couch, breathing heavily, tears starting collect; she hadn't taken her eyes from the TV.

"Sweetheart, are you alright?" Her father asked gently touching her arm.

She jumped at the touch before turning and looking at him.

"Don't you recognize the name? Cousin Jimmy lives there!"

"Jimmy's in Hawaii with his new wife sweetie; he's not in any danger." Her father replied.

"That's not what's got you worried though, is it dear?" Asked her mother having walked in from the kitchen along with her younger brother.

She ran a hand across her face and felt the tears run from her eyes; she tried to compose herself before speaking; her mother walked over and hugged her.

"My boyfriend is there, he works for that company; he called me last night while I was out, said he was getting deployed there." She said before breaking down and sobbing into her mother's shoulder.

**Kilo Deployment - Plus 24 hours, UBCS Deployment – Plus 12 hours**

"Is there any particular reason that the company builds these immense labs underground? How about one of the surface for once?" Gray said as they climbed down an elevator shaft that had lost power.

"What's the matter Gray, don't like spelunking?" Schaper teased.

"It's not on the top of my to do list." Gray replied dryly.

"Mah quaistion is, if th' power reserves ur suppose tae lest forever, howfur come we keep finding th' facilities wi'oot ony?" Ghost asked rhetorically, as he swung himself down to a pair of elevator doors.

He and Kruglov started to separate the doors and peered into the corridor it led to; they opened the doors completely to find the corridor empty, the squad filed in and fanned out covering the different approaches. Schaper had his laptop out and was attempting to find a way to the generator rooms.

"With all the lights out, this may be difficult." He said looking around.

"Dae yer best 'n' point th' wey Schaper." Ghost replied.

Schaper looked at his map once more and then motioned down one of the corridors and Kruglov took point, followed by Schaper, then Gray, and finally Ghost brought up the rear; he stopped suddenly when he felt his pager go off, he quickly pulled it out of one of his shirt pockets.

"Bloody hell!"

"You ok boss?" Gray asked slowing to see what was wrong.

"Mah stupid pager haes gaen aff." Ghost replied chuckling.

"You got a signal down here?" Gray asked pulling his own out of a pouch and waving it around.

"Ah git it afore we climbed doon parntly." Ghost said scrolling the screen and reading the text.

_I got your message. I'm so sorry I wasn't there to answer the phone, I'm watching the news and I can't stop worrying about you. Please be safe, I love you._

"Sae, she git mah message efter a'." Ghost said sighing.

"You told her we got deployed here?" Gray asked more astonished than anything else.

"I dinna tell her everything aboot it, juist whaur we wur gaun." Ghost replied.

"Brave soul there Sir." Gray said laughing as the two jogged to catch up with the rest of the squad.

The team fumbled their way around in the dark for a few minutes before finding an emergency generator and bringing it online; the area they were in lit up almost instantly and they finally got a look at what kind of lab they were in.

"What the hell?" Gray started as he walked over to a suspension tank and peered into it.

"Dinnae touch anything!" Ghost said interrupting.

"What is it Gray?" Kruglov asked walking up to stand next to the medic.

"Looks like gene-splicing to me. I've never seen anything like this before."

"Ah wouldn't worry aboot it Gray. Schaper, git stairted oan th' landline transfer; th' rest o' us, fan oot, this wis tae easy." Ghost ordered.

"Expecting trouble?" Kruglov asked.

"'twas tae easy getting doon 'ere, juist be duin fur anythin'."

Schaper got the main computer started up and was beginning his connection transfer when an audio/video log started playing automatically.

_"With the NE-a Type we should be able to improve the functionality of the BOW's in the field; the only problems we're having at the moment is that the subjects are expiring too fast."_

_"What improvements are we hoping to make?" _Asked a voice from off screen in the recording.

_"According to research done by Mr. Wesker and Doctor Birkin the Type-B subject has shown serious improvements in the areas of intelligence and combat efficiency. The regenerative properties alone are astounding."_

Ghost walked over to a console and switched off the recording; Gray looked the most concerned of the squad.

"Parasites?" Gray asked turning to face Schaper.

"The system doesn't say." Schaper replied looking back down at the laptop.

"Gray, this is whit ah meant by nae sticking yer hooter intae hings; juist lea it alone, laddie." Ghost said.

"Yeah, it's probably better that way; but you have to admit though, regenerative properties does sound promising."

"Probably not the way we're thinking; probably bad way." Kruglov said pulling a small Russian Orthodox cross on a simple chain from his shirt and muttering a Hail Mary.

"Look; we dinnae touch the containers, we dinnae open anything, we're fine. How much longer Schaper?"

"Uh, five minutes, maybe less?"

"Richt then, th' connection finishes, we dinnae titch anythin', we gang back oot tae th' elevator 'n' back oot tae th' streets; na muss 'n' nae a kinch." Ghost said.

From back further in lab storage area there was a loud crash and the sounds of glass breaking, all four members of the team turned and brought their weapons up in an instant.

"What the hell was that?" Gray asked nervously.

"Stick together lads; Schaper?"

"Two minutes!"

"What is down there?" Kruglov asked.

"It's a storage area, why?"

"Whit's in it lad?"

"I don't know, the map doesn't tell me."

"Security cameras?" Kruglov asked.

"Oui, let me look." Schaper replied brining up a security feed on one of the monitors.

On the grainy picture the team were able to see what looked like plants walking, walking toward the main area.

"Heads up!" Schaper called out.

Gray kneeled down next to a computer bank and readied an incendiary rifle grenade, he looked over at Kruglov and nodded.

"Aim for head comrade!" The big Russian said before opening up on the first of the walking plants to enter the room.

"Now it's walking plants, what the hell else are we going to get to see today?" Schaper called out as he threw a grenade at a plant, it exploded, disintegrating the plant and injuring another.

Gray fired his rifle grenade and it exploded as it hit a plant, bathing it in burning thermite; the plant let out what sounded like a howling scream before flailing about and finally keeling over. He watched as one of the plants reared up and began to spit in their direction, Gray rolled back behind the desk he was near and heard the fluid hit the metal side. He heard a hissing sound and looked to see the thin metal start to warp, bend and deteriorate from the caustic fluids. He moved back and called out a warning to the rest of the team, in response, the others moved back slightly to get back out of range. Schaper called out that the download was finished and was frantically stuffing his laptop back into his pack. Ghost ordered them to fall back toward the elevator; they threw incendiary grenades as they ran and heard more of the plant creatures catching on fire. When they got to the elevator doors, Schaper began to continuously press the button, clearly unnerved by what they had witnessed.

"Lad, it dinnae work that way, gie it a minute." Ghost said as he reloaded.

"Uh, boss." Gray called out pointing towards the lab doors.

Crossing the threshold was one of the plants, shuffling along at a determined pace; it reared up and spat toward the team, the fluid hit the wall and splattered around, it missed the team miraculously hissing and fizzling on the wall and floor.

"Gray!" Ghost called out.

In response, Gray fired a fresh rifle grenade, it hit the plant and cut its head in half; the plant fell to the floor and let out a defeated sigh. Another plant was close to crossing the door by now and Ghost was almost throwing his team back into the already opened elevator shaft and began shouting at them to start climbing the service ladder mounted to the side of the shaft. The elevator passed them when they had gotten several floors up and came to a slow stop on the floor they had just been on. Luckily the service ladder was not in the direct line with the elevator car. They could hear the plants shuffling near the open doors as they climbed higher.

"Drap a tae o` yer mines oan it Kruglov; cannae risk they hings getting oot." Ghost said pulling a grenade from his belt.

Kruglov armed the two mines he had left and dropped them onto the top of the elevator, he then continued to climb with Gray and Schaper. Ghost pulled the pin of his grenade and wrapped the spoon in paracord and let it dangle from his belt, when they had gotten up far enough, he pulled the cord up slightly and then with a whip crack motion yanked the cord away from the grenade, priming it. The explosion was loud even as far up as they were, but they knew that the elevator would no longer be working and hopefully trapping the plant creatures and what ever else that particular lab held in its bowels.

They got back out to the surface and started toward the final lab in their mission, hearing the sounds of a dying city all around them.

Meanwhile...

The young woman hadn't left the couch or taken her eyes off the TV since she first saw the report of the viral outbreak. She had eaten, barely, too concerned with what was going on; hoping above all else that he had gotten her message and would somehow be able to reply to her. Her mother was trying to comfort her as they watched the situation unfold on the television reports.

"I should've been there when he called; why did I have to go out?"

"You didn't know that was going to happen Sweetheart, you sent him a message right?" Her mother replied.

"Yeah, but still... I should have been there for him, he's always been there for me!" The young woman cried.

"Sweetheart, if he's as good as you say he is, then you have nothing to worry about." Her mother replied holding her trying to comfort her.

They continued to watch the news and heard that the situation in and around the city was deteriorating into things nightmares are made of. The woman straightened suddenly and fumbled for her pockets, after a moment she produced her pager and quickly turned the screen on to read the text scrolling across.

_Hey girl, have you been watching the news? Isn't your boyfriend in that city? Got the schedule for the week. See you in class!_

The girl rolled her eyes and sighed as she tossed her pager back onto the table and leaned back into the couch. The news continued on with the growing situation and showed pictures of the surrounding areas of the city. She got up feeling nauseous, found something for her stomach, and returned to the couch continuing to watch and worry.

**Kilo Deployment - Plus 30 hours, UBCS Deployment - Plus 18 hours**

Ghost's team had been running through the city for more than a day now, they rested when they could and avoided encounters when possible; except for now. As Ghost stood there sighting down his weapon at the nearest cop, he couldn't help but wonder how it had gotten to that point.

They had gotten close to where the fourth lab was located and found the road to be blocked, Schaper had suggested they go through a parking garage to get around or at least above the roadblock. That's where things had gotten interesting, there was no power and they had found themselves surrounded by the undead. They fought their way out leaving a bloody trail behind all the while moving until they had come to a makeshift 'checkpoint' made up of a few cars backed up to each other and several pieces of sheet metal propped up to make the walls. The barricade was manned by a few local police officers; they naturally tried to stop the team, stating that the area was quarantined and went so far as to draw their weapons on them. The team reacted instantly ready to defend themselves, but the standoff could only end in one way. One of the officers was walking cautiously toward them holding out his shotgun and barking orders to identify themselves and to lower their weapons.

_'Not a chance.'_ Ghost thought to himself with a smirk.

Out of the corner of his vision he saw that Kruglov had the best view of the others at the barricade, while he himself had the shot on the approaching officer, he'd have to trust that Gray would not freeze up or have one of his 'hero' moments; this would be a test of loyalty to both the squad and the company. Ghost breathed in and let it out slowly, his muscles tensing for the right moment.

"Nemedlenno!" Ghost called out just before pulling the trigger.

The cop in front of him fell with a round tearing through his forehead while Kruglov opened up with his machine gun taking out two of the officers at the barricade; the third officer dropped down to return fire at the squad. Schaper had run up behind a car and peppered the barricade with his shotgun, the slug rounds punched through the sheet metal, killing the cop. The barricade fell silent and the squad started to consolidate around it. Gray was checking the bodies while Schaper took what little ammo they had on them, Kruglov reloaded and was watching the other road for any others that may have heard the gunfire and come to investigate. Ghost seemed eager to leave and began pacing.

"C'moan, we need tae keep movin`."

The squad gathered themselves and started to move on toward the final laboratory when a commotion came from further down an alley, Ghost motioned the rest of the team to stay put while he walked toward the noise; he made it part way down the alley when he came into line with the barrel of a pistol.

"Hands where I can see them, now!" Said an RPD officer that had climbed out from behind some rubble.

Ghost growled at himself for being taken by surprise, he let his rifle hang by his side along with his hands. The officer barked another order for him to put his hands up and to take his gas mask off, Ghost slowly shook his head and let his hand drift toward his thigh holster. The officer yelled again and stepped closer bringing his weapon to be level with Ghost's head, the officer continued to yell and step toward Ghost; in response, Ghost simply moved back slightly and tapped the toe of his boot on the street twice. On cue from Ghost, Gray opened fire on the surviving cop, killing him. Gray stalked forward and reloaded his weapon; he nodded at Ghost before checking the man he killed and pulling a small first aid kit from his belt.

The team continued on and found the entrance to the fourth lab hidden in an underground tunnel leading to the Raccoon City Zoo.

**Kilo Deployment - Plus 38 hours, UBCS Deployment - Plus 26 hours**

The team stood in front of a large bulkhead having rested for a while before traveling down a service tunnel and ending up in front of the metal and concrete wall. There were hoses and several buckets gathered sloppily in the corner; giving the impression that the area was used to clean zoo equipment or even some of the animals kept there.

"Um, it's a wall boss." Gray said looking absently at their surroundings.

Ghost cleared his throat before walking a little ways back down the tunnel and stopping in front of a door that was marked with a sign that said _'Lockers/Storage'_. He opened the door and stepped in, the others in the squad looked at each other in confusion before Ghost's head appeared back out from the door.

"Are you lads coming or what?"

The others quickly followed him into the room and found he had opened the far wall where a bunch of lockers had been to reveal what looked to be an airlock door. Ghost was already cycling the door open when they caught up, the door opened to reveal another room that looked like a staging area with another airlock type door that led deeper into the hidden facility.

"Wow, color me impressed, why under the zoo boss?" Gray asked looking around the airlock chamber.

"I dinnae know; what's it you Yanks say? I just work 'ere." Ghost replied in a cheeky tone.

"How did you know about the door boss?" Schaper asked with confusion.

"Didnae ony o' ye read th' maps ah tellt ye tae?" Ghost asked. He rolled his eyes after getting only shrugs for answers.

The cycle lock finished and the other door opened automatically, telling the team that the facility still had power, the airlock door led them into a small reception area with painted markers on the walls leading to different parts of the facility. Ghost looked at them briefly before turning back to his squad.

"Schaper 'n' Kruglov, heid tae th' main computer banks 'n' see whit it wull tak' tae stairt th' landline transfer. Gray 'n' ah wull heid tae th' armory 'n' git us some mair ammo 'n' supplies; hings aren't gaun weel fur th' UBCS 'n' a'd lik' tae be oot o' 'ere as quickly as we kin."

He was met with nods of acknowledgement and then the two groups set off in different directions. When they had gotten a few corridors away Ghost broke the silence while Gray was cycling a door open.

"Cheers fur helping mah arse back thare."

"Huh?"

"Th' cop, th' barricade, a'm sure ye think that thare wis a better wey tae deal wi' that situation."

"Well, they technically drew down on us first, we were merely defending ourselves. I didn't know you spoke Russian?"

"Ja nemnógo ponimáju po-rússki." Ghost replied chuckling.

Gray shrugged and Ghost could see that he had a blank look through his lenses.

"Means ah speak a wee bit. Didnae thay teach ye ony foreign languages whin ye wur a Ranger?"

"I can speak Faroese and Spanish, not Russian." Gray replied shrugging again.

"At ony rate laddie, ta. Ah ken this mission hasn't gaen tae yer liking bit, we're a'maist dane."

"Yeah, all downhill right?"

"Aye, a' downhill."

"How bad do you think it's getting out there?" Gray asked after a few moments of silence.

"Weel, th' wey ah figure, UBCS ainlie sent in aboot a company sized unit; 'n' thay wur ainlie made up o' mercenaries, if ony o' thaim hae survived a'd be surprised."

Gray was silent for a moment, contemplating the loss that the city was suffering before speaking again.

"Think we'll get a redirect?"

"Na idea, personally a'd ower juist git oor mission dane 'n' git oot o' 'ere." Ghost replied.

Ghost had stopped at an intersection and was looking around before sagging his shoulders and stretching. Gray watched him rotate one of his shoulders briefly while continuing to look around, he noticed that several of the wall markers had changed from the entrance where they came in and even he started to wonder where they were. Ghost had pulled a map of the facility they were in and was fussing over it trying to orient their location in it. He looked around again briefly before walking back to look at some of the other wall markers, Gray heard him scoff before walking back to where they were standing. He sighed again and reached down to adjust his radio while putting a hand around the transmitter set around his neck and attempted to raise the others.

"Kilo 1 tae Kilo 3?"

"Kilo 3, go ahead sir." Came the reply from Schaper.

"Hae ye pulled up a map o' this facility yit, th' markers ur getting confusing doon this wey."

"Oui sir, where are you now?"

"Markers say _Transition Corridor 3, Lab 6, Research Area 4,_ and _Loading Docks_."

"Oui, I've got you. Head toward Lab 6 and the storage area, you will have to turn on the secondary power generators in the back of the storage area; then you can get to the armory. This lab had another permanent UBCS unit; not sure what happened to them though."

"Richt then, urr ye a' set up fur th' transfer?"

"Almost, I need the secondary power generators on so I complete the setup. Once you get that done and get back up from the armory I'll have everything done and we can get out of here."

"Richt, we'll git it dane. Keep yourselves secure, we'll be oan that wey soon. Kilo 1 oot."

Ghost adjusted his radio again and looked back at Gray nodding before pointing toward the way to the loading docks and storage areas. They walked for a while before coming to another bulkhead door with several hazard markings on it and the words _Storage Area 5_ across the top. Ghost started working on getting the door open while Gray looked around absently, his gaze fell upon another marking on the side of the door and he tilted his head slightly as he read it.

_Cold Storage - Tyrant Area 2_

"Uh, boss?"

"Whit?" Ghost said looking back.

"Tyrant storage area?"

"Aye, sae whit? if they're a' in kicked oot animation we shouldn't hae anythin' tae worry aboot. Juist dinnae titch anythin'." Ghost said as he got the door open, revealing a large storeroom with several containers and different areas for development and transport.

Certain areas were marked off and had containers standing upright in rows, the room was cold enough that a mist had formed about ankle high that moved and seemed to creep along as Ghost and Gray made their way quickly toward the power room. They passed a particular container that had been opened and the occupant was missing, Gray slowed and stared briefly before bringing his weapon up and scanning around.

"Boss, this one's empty."

Ghost stopped and turned back to Gray looking around at the different containers and finally finding an operating table with a large figure strapped to it.

"'Ere, thir's yin oan a buird, that's likelie th' yin fae that container." He said pointing.

Gray looked around for a minute more before slowly walking back to catch up with Ghost, still not convinced. They found the generator room and managed to get the secondary generators up and running with not too much difficulty and Ghost contacted Schaper again to advise him of the generator status and to get directions to the armory. They exited from another doorway and continued on following the directions from Schaper to the armory and the main area to link up with the other two of the squad. They hadn't noticed the table they passed earlier was now empty and something else was now moving with them in the facility. They got to the armory and loaded an extra pack they had found with more ammunition and some rations that were also stored there and were on the way to the main computer area when they got a frantic radio message.

"Kilo 3 to Kilo 1, come in Kilo 1!"

"Kilo 1 'ere, go ahead." Ghost replied holding his hand up.

"Sir, something is up here in the general area! We opened up the sealed admin areas and let out some of the things to try and slow it, but it's not working. Get up here, the transfer is almost complete, but we need more time!" Schaper said with the sounds of bursts from Kruglov's machine gun and the loud bangs from Schaper's shotgun.

"Shite, go laddie!" Ghost said breaking into a run, Gray mere steps behind him.

They ran as fast as they could and came into the computer room as Schaper was throwing his laptop into his bag and running toward the doors that Ghost and Gray had just entered. Kruglov was backing slowly and continuing to fire into the doors that they had first entered. From the dark corridor emerged a tall, muscular, and very large creature. Pale skinned, bald headed, wearing a heavy coat and boots; its hands were balled into fists and its hooded eyes were set on the group as it marched toward them in a heavy lockstep. This was a Tyrant, genetically modified clones of Sergei Vladimir, bred to be super soldiers. Totally loyal to Umbrella and its twisted masters, they are the only Bio Organic Weapons to date that are able to follow mission orders and parameters. Weather it perceived Kilo Team to be intruders or it was acting on instinct, Ghost could only wonder. He started firing his weapon and calling for Kruglov to move faster, Gray had a grenade ready and was waiting for Kruglov to get further away from the Tyrant before attempting to throw it. Schaper had made it to the doorway and took the grenade from Gray so he could open fire with his rifle, the Tyrant was slowed barely but showed more determination in its blank expression. Kruglov's weapon clinked empty and he dove behind a bank of computers while continuing to move and started to reload, Schaper threw the grenade while Gray reloaded and continued to fire. Kruglov got his weapon reloaded and stood to move again but the Tyrant lunged and swung at him catching him in the chest and sending the Russian over a few of the computer banks. The rest of the squad continued to fire and urged Kruglov to get up, the Tyrant hadn't even slowed as it continued to stalk toward the squad.

Kruglov felt one of his ribs had cracked and a trickle of blood had started running from his arm where it had hit the side of a table. He turned and started to run toward his squad when the Tyrant grabbed his leg and flung him back into a wall of monitors breaking his ankle and tearing part of his gas mask away, blood now freely ran down the side of his head where he had hit the monitors and he tore away what was left of his mask so he could see. Gray was trying to get to him but was being held back by Schaper, Ghost was yelling but all Kruglov could hear was a loud ringing and his vision was starting to get blurry. He pulled out his sidearm and began firing at the Tyrant while waving at the squad to keep going, the pistol clicked empty and he began to reload when the Tyrant grabbed him by his throat and lifted him to eye level. Kruglov looked over at his team and managed what he considered a nod before quickly pulling as many pins on his grenades as he could. Ghost nodded in understanding and cycled the blast doors shut and starting toward the exit, Schaper was practically dragging and shouting at Gray, they were determined not to let their comrades sacrifice be in vain. They found a service lift and rode it to the surface, escaping the Tyrant and the final lab on their mission.

"Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam." Ghost said making the sign of the cross.

"Why did that thing attack us!" Gray asked, anger in his voice rising.

"Ah dinnae ken laddie, bit at ony rate we're dane 'ere." Ghost replied adjusting his radio.

"Kilo 1 tae command, mission complete. Proceeding to extraction point."

"Negative Kilo, this is a mission redirect."

"Go ahead wi' th' redirect sur."

"We've lost contact with one of the UBCS supervisors who has yet to transmit the data he was tasked with collecting. You are to take your squad and find him, recover the data at all costs."

"Understood command, name o' th' supervisor?"

"Daniel McNeil. The supervisors had an outpost set up in Raccoon Park, start your search there."

"Received 'n' understood command; be advised, we've taken a causality."

"Understood Kilo, failure is not an option, get it done Ghost. Command out."

**Kilo Deployment - Plus 50 hours, UBCS Deployment - Plus 38 hours**

The team had made it to the park with little difficulty and had finally found the supervisor outpost. Schaper was able to patch into their radio frequency and was listening in on what little conversations were going on between survivors, apparently there was some decent among the mercenaries. Ghost frowned at hearing what amounted to a total route of the unit with survivors killing anything that moves in hopes of getting to an evacuation area, he shook his head as he pulled out a laminated card with different radio frequencies on it.

"Kilo op tae Dragon op seven."

"Who is this, identify yourself!"

"Kilo op, a'm trying tae reach Dragon op seven; switch tae three-three 'n' acknowledge."

Ghost nodded and Gray switched channels on the pack radio that he was carrying.

"Dragon op seven, who am I speaking to?"

"Kilo op; confirm yer channel as secure."

"It's secure, now, who the hell are you?"

"Patrick, tis Ghost."

"Shit, you're here too?"

"Did ye expect a'body else lad?"

"You do have a knack for getting the job done. What are you here for anyways?"

"We're trying tae fin' yin o` yer fellow supervisors, wha a' is left?"

There was a pause before Tyrell replied.

"Hell, we're so scattered it's hard to tell anymore. This whole mission went wrong the moment we landed."

"Howfur mony supervisors git sent in?"

"You know they don't tell us that, you're likely to know more than I will."

"A'm juist keekin fur yin, Daniel McNeil, dae ye ken whaur he is?"

"McNeil, Danny Boy? I think he was headed toward the north end of the park, near that factory. What do you want with him?"

"Dinna worry about it, juist huv a go 'n' bade alive. Kilo op out."

"So, we're going after a guy named Danny boy?" Gray asked starting to laugh.

Ghost shrugged before starting toward the north end of the park and the disposal facility that Tyrell Patrick had told them about. Schaper and Gray were only a few steps behind him.

"How did he know to answer that call?" Gray asked.

"Some old agreement between the two of them, Patrick used to be USS but had some kind of falling out with Commander Askew and was put back into UBCS, not sure when he was made a supervisor, but he and the boss have an understanding." Schaper replied.

Gray thought this over while they made their way through the park. Surprisingly, they only encountered very few of the reanimated before Schaper heard something over the UBCS channel.

"Boss, got something!"

Ghost walked back to him and listened in.

"Eagle Four to any UBCS unit in the Raccoon park area, I'm pinned down near the fountains and need immediate assistance. Anyone, respond!"

"Let's go lads." Ghost said before turning and running toward the fountains.

The squad found the supervisor in short order in the fountains, or rather, on top of them while several hunters paced around the fountain and brayed at him. A Gamma breed jumped into the fountain to try and get to him but was quickly shot by McNeil.

"Let's git tae him, afore th' bloke kills his-sel." Ghost said sliding down the small hill and into the sight of the other hunters.

The group turned and looked at the newcomer with interest, sensing what could be easier prey, they all growled and ran at Ghost. A shotgun blast sent one of the creatures sliding into a bush while Ghost dropped to one knee and fired at another, Gray slid down and into the third creature and buried his combat knife into its head before shooting it with his sidearm. The squad picked themselves up and turned to look at the UBCS supervisor, who was know cheering them on.

"Yeah! USS, that's what I'm talking about!"

"Bloody Yank." Ghost sighed getting a laugh from Schaper.

McNeil managed to climb down and get back onto the main walkway where Ghost and his team were standing, whooping and ranting the entire time, when he came to stand in front of Ghost.

"Daniel McNeil, you can call me Big Dan!" He said holding out his hand.

Ghost took it reluctantly but was unable to introduce himself due to McNeil's continued rambling.

"Holy shit, you're Hunk, aren't you! Wow, I didn't think the legendary Hunk would help me!"

"A'm not Hunk, the name is Ghost."

"Oh, you're a Limey, that's cool. One of the guys in my squad was a Limey, poor kid."

"A'm Scots, nae British. If ye'r ferr dane Mr. McNeil, ah will be taking th' data ye'v collected."

"Little touchy there huh? What data?"

"Command said that ye'r carrying data particular tae this incident 'n' whit happens tae fowk whin they're exposed tae th' virus."

"So you know about Operation Watchdog then. Hate to disappoint but, I've lost my data."

"Howfur th' hell did ye shoogly it?"

"In case you missed, I was being chased when you happened to find me."

"Ye wur cowering oan tap o' a fountain, we could've juist left ye tae die 'n' then poked ower yer corpse." Ghost replied harshly.

"And then you'd be right where you are now." McNeil said crossing his arms over his chest.

"Ye hae na idea whaur ye lost that data dae ye? ye'r quickly becoming boggin' tae me Mr. McNeil."

Schaper had walked up behind McNeil and to add effect to Ghost's words he racked the slide of his shotgun and brought the barrel up to McNeil's back. The group had been walking for a while and had come to stop on a small wooden bridge that spanned part of the river that ran through the park. McNeil grinned wickedly and looked around at Ghost and his team.

"What do you know of Operation Watchdog?"

"Operation whit?" Gray asked having brought up his own weapon.

McNeil shook his head before he spoke.

"Here and I thought the vaunted USS knew everything. Operation Watchdog, Umbrella decided to use the outbreak at the Arklay facility to its advantage and use Raccoon City to test the effects of the virus on living things in a somewhat controlled environment. Don't you see it? Raccoon City has become."

"Th' perfect tryin` oot grounds." Ghost finished.

"Now you see it." McNeil replied.

"Innocent people are dying out there!" Gray yelled.

"So? That's not our problem."

"Whit's yer plan tae git oot alive then?" Ghost asked.

McNeil looked back into Ghost's lenses before slowly replying.

"Same as you; call in the air wing and fly outta here and collect my nice, very big pay check."

"Ye'r juist a mercenary though, even supervisors dinnae git paid that muckle. Wha urr ye pure workin' fur?" Ghost asked.

"Never you mind that mate." McNeil said before winking.

"Schaper!" Ghost called out.

McNeil turns slightly at the waist while pulling the trigger on the pistol in a shoulder holster he was wearing, emptying the magazine into Schaper. As Schaper falls back he pulls the trigger on his own weapon. A slug round tears into McNeil's thigh causing him to cry out in pain.

"Schaper!" Gray cried while lunging to try and catch the computer expert.

McNeil slid across the ground at the end of the bridge, managing to keep out of return fire from Ghost, scooped up a handful of dirt and threw it at him. The dirt hit Ghost and he put his hand up to shield his face, McNeil got up and ran off deeper into the park.

**Elsewhere...**

The young woman sat in her medical class listening to the lecture but she couldn't stop thinking about her boyfriend. She only half paid attention to her instructors and barely did her coursework; she sat at lunch alone, constantly watching the news. The outbreak, as it was being called had been going on for the past three days and all she could do was watch the news with what little they and the Umbrella representatives had been saying. She knew her parents were starting to worry about her, she had finished about half of her finals and didn't know how she was going to finish the rest of them.

_'He would hate me if I didn't finish this at my best.'_

She looked back up at the television in the cafeteria having barely touched her leftovers she had brought for lunch and rolled her eyes at the reporter droning on about the ability of viruses to replicate and spread. She inwardly grinned at her specialization, infection control nursing with some courses in virology, she scoffed at the television due to the report being completely wrong. She was brought out of her thoughts when one of her classmates sat down at the chair across from her, the woman was an exchange student from the UK and her accent only served to remind her of her boyfriend and the ongoing disaster.

"Oi, what are you going on about?"

"Huh?"

"The 'ole semester you been at the top, now some cack on the telly 'as got you on like a proper nutter."

The woman blinked several times and gently shook her head while looking at her classmate.

"What did you say?"

The other girl sighed before replying.

"You are crazy girl, what happened?"

"Oh, this disaster has got me bothered; my boyfriend was deployed to the city and I'm not sure if he's still alive or dead." The woman replied while looking at the TV.

"Where's that then?" The exchange girl asked looking at the TV as well.

"Raccoon City, ever heard of it?"

"Isn't that one of Umbrella's towns?"

"Yeah, how did you know?"

"I work for Umbrella ya daft." The exchange girl said smiling.

"Who's your boyfriend?" She went on.

"He said he's in one of the 'asset protection' teams."

"Got a picture of the bloke?"

The girl pulled a picture of her boyfriend from her pocket, it showed the man half sitting, half standing in the door of a jeep wearing an all black colored uniform, his helmet and what looked like a gas mask could be seen sitting on the dashboard. The jeep was painted black and had a red and white colored logo painted on the rear door. The man was smiling at the camera and had his arm around another soldier who was similarly dressed, both men's uniforms lacked any kind of patches or name tags. The exchange girl stared long at the picture until finally she cocked her head sideways and looked back at her classmate.

"I know these blokes."

"You do?"

"Yeah, I helped out with unit physicals a few months back, before I came over 'ere for classes. The one 'ere on the right is called Hunk or something similar, I've heard him called 'Mr. Death' in the past. The bloke on the left I take is your boyfriend?"

"Yes."

"He's odd; friendly to boot, but always cold and calculating, I heard him called 'Ghost' before."

"What does all that mean?"

"I've 'eard that those two blokes are part of the security service units; you're right, asset protection. Don't hear much else about them. How did you two meet?"

"I was getting some of my hospital hours and he came in with one of his friends; we talked almost my whole shift and he gave me his number and told me to call him the next time I had some time off, we've been together for a few months now. He never talks about work whenever we're together."

The two girls continued to talk through their lunch period before returning to class, they met up after classes had ended that day and went to the exchange girl's apartment. They had dinner while talking about Umbrella as a company while continuing to watch the reports come in on the dying city.

**Kilo Deployment - Plus 68 hours, UBCS Deployment - Plus 56 hours**

Ghost and Gray ran through the park ignoring the cries of the dead and still dying, they avoided and bypassed the growing number of creatures that were starting to take control of the city. McNeil had been running and laying traps for them in the process, they had only slowed the USS members down. They were closing in, McNeil knew this and he kept pressing on, trying to get to the Dead Factory before the other two could. They would probably want revenge for killing their teammate, it didn't matter now; if he could get to the factory he could take the helicopter hidden there and make his escape and leave this city of the dead to its fate. He had originally wanted to use the clock tower point to get away but had heard another group of survivors were headed there with one of the locals that had managed to survive this long.

_Idiots, all of them._ He thought to himself, he briefly wondered if Tyrell Patrick and Nicholai Zinoviev, two other UBCS supervisors, had survived the catastrophe. Patrick was a good man, soft, but would get the mission done. Nicholai on the other hand was a ruthless bastard who wouldn't hesitate to shoot you in the back if it benefitted him. McNeil stopped behind a large tree and set up a claymore mine before starting to continue, he clutched his leg in pain and gritted his teeth as he tightened the makeshift bandage. The shotgun blast had obviously done more damage than even he thought; he'd managed to stop the bleeding, or so he thought, but blood was still seeping out of the makeshift bandage he had made.

_'Once I get out of the city, I should be able to patch this up better.'_ He said to himself as he limped closer to the factory and his salvation.

Ghost stopped and was looking at a trail of blood, Gray kept watch of their surroundings. He hadn't said much after checking Schaper, as blind as the shots that McNeil had made, they were enough to kill the man. Ghost and Gray had stayed with him while he passed, Ghost had said the same thing over Schaper's body that he had said in the elevator after Kruglov died, when Gray asked about it Ghost had said it was Gaelic and meant may his soul be at the right hand of God. Fitting, considering that the two men weren't going to be forgotten, at least as long as Gray was still alive.

"Are you sure that's him? We've been running around for the past eighteen hours." Gray asked glancing back at Ghost.

"He wis lost, Schaper's shot lagged him doon considerably, we're richt behind him noo. C'moan!"

The two continued their hunt, determined to find out what McNeil knew and enact vengeance on their fallen comrade.

**Elsewhere...**

"What do you mean I can't inquire as to an employee's status?" The woman almost shouted into the phone.

"I'm sorry ma'am, unless you have a relation to the employee I can't just go out and give private information."

"He's on one of your asset protection teams! He got deployed to Raccoon City! How many people do you have in Raccoon City?"

"Raccoon City is one of larger sites, we have several dozens of employees that live and work there, if you are interested in employment I'll have to transfer you to human resources."

"NO! Don't you dare transfer me again!" The woman shouted before the line went dead and the hold music started playing through the receiver. The woman slammed the handset down and sighed loudly before letting her head sink into her folded arms.

"Give it a rest a bit before you become a right proper nutter, pop off and get some sleep." The exchange student said from across the room.

They had gone to the exchange students dorm room and, even though she was tired, had gotten on the phone to try and find someone who could tell her what was going on. Though it seemed, only direct family members could gain this information. She thought back to when they first got together, he never spoke of any family, he mentioned that he had a mother back in England, nothing about any siblings or his father.

"He talked about being in the Gulf War once, we had gone out once and someone from his past had seen him at a bar and they told stories briefly...and, and I can't remember anything else about him. Oh my god, that makes me a horrible girlfriend, not to mention a horrible person."

"Come on now, don't say that. Go get some sleep, take another look at it before you go on call tonight, yeah?"

"On no, I'm on call tonight." The woman sighed again before dragging herself from the small table toward the other bed in the small room with help from her friend. When she was all tucked in the exchange student quietly opened the connecting door leading to the communal bathroom and poked her head into her neighbors room, meeting a smiling face within.

"Hey there neighbor."

"Do us a favor love?"

"Yeah, what's up?"

"My friend is on call tonight and she's going all kinds of crazy, can you pop in and check on her for a bit? I've got to step out, I'll be back in a bit."

"No problem, you friend sleeping?"

"Out like a child." She said with a wink before going back through the bathroom and quietly leaving through the door to her room.

She walked to the communal phone, picked up the receiver, dialed a familiar number and idly played with the cord while listening to the elevator music.

"Welcome to the Umbrella Employee Direct Line, please type in your six digit employee number."

She tapped out her number and sighed briefly in annoyance while the system checked her identity.

"Thank you, if you know your parties extension please enter it now, if not, please stay on the line for an operator."

She then hit the zero key and was quickly transferred to an operator, she identified herself and asked to be transferred to an operations manager and gave a four digit extension which baffled the operator briefly but quickly transferred her call.

"Operations, Anthony Jones speaking."

"Tony! You got promoted mate, that's brilliant."

"I did, what can I do for you?"

"Listen, a classmate of mine is dating some bloke from asset protection, said he was deployed to Raccoon City."

"What about it?"

"Well, can you tell me who he is? He's not one of the regular throw a ways, one of the more permanent types."

"I might need a bit more than that."

"USS I think, how many of their teams are out there?"

"I'm not really at liberty to say, I know Commander Askew has teams in the city and a large group from UBCS went in under orders from Sergei Vladimir."

"Do it as a favor to me, for old times sake Tony."

"All right, but you didn't hear this from me. You're sure he's USS?"

"Positive, seen a picture of the bloke, black uniform, black lorrie, our logo painted on the back door; friend of Mr. Death I think."

"What did you say?"

"I think he's mates with Mr. Death, I've heard the name Ghost thrown around before."

"Like I said, you didn't hear this from me. USS Alpha, Bravo, Echo, and Kilo teams were all deployed into the city."

"What's their status'?"

"I don't know that information, you'd have to talk to Commander Askew."

"You're an operations manager, just ask for it."

"Alright, hold on." Anthony sighed as he put the receiver down, put the phone on speaker, and then dialed the phone into a conference call to the command center.

"Command Center, Commander Askew speaking."

"Desmond, Anthony Jones here, how are you sir?"

"Mr. Jones, to what do I owe the pleasure of your call?"

"I'm curious on the status of the teams you sent in to Raccoon City, you sent in four correct?"

"As I stated in my report sir."

"I've got a request concerning one of your men."

"From upper management, concerning one of my men?"

"That's correct sir, the man in question is call sign _'Ghost'_."

"What about him?"

"When was the last time you had a status check from your teams?"

"Not too long ago, Mr. Thompson was advised when we made the checks sir."

"I'm not Kyle Thompson Desmond, and he failed to pass that information on to me when I got on shift. I'm not trying to step on your toes commander, but I've got one of the other managers asking for this information from me and I'd rather not look like a total ass."

"Of course sir. We still have no contact with Alpha or Echo teams; Bravo's last contact was under duress; and Kilo has taken casualties, but is continuing their mission."

"You heard this from Kilo's team leader?"

"Yes sir, Ghost is still alive and intent on completing his mission. You can tell whoever's asking that."

"Thank you for your time sir, sorry to have ruffled any feathers."

"Of course sir, if there's nothing else?"

"No, that'll be all commander, thank you." Tony replied before ending the line with Commander Askew and picking the line with the girl back up.

"There, if this comes back to bite me, you owe me one."

"No worries mate, you were doing your job. I've got to go, but cheers mate!"

Tony Jones hung up the phone and sighed again, wondering if he had stepped out of line with questioning Commander Askew or helping with that particular phone call. He shook his head and rubbed his temple before trying to get back to work.

Back at the university the woman had woken up, showered, gotten something to eat and was walking out with her exchange friend when she spoke up suddenly.

"Oi, by the way, I called Umbrella back and got you some info on your boyfriend."

"You did?"

"Yeah, you were asleep, figured it would help you out some, I was afraid that your head was going to pop off with all that crazy going on in it."

"Did you find anything?"

"Aye, I'm getting to that. Yes, he's still alive; they had to redirect his team, so he's not quite done yet."

"Oh thank you so much!" The woman said as she threw her arms around her friend.

"There, there; what are friends for yeah?" The exchange student replied patting the woman on the back slightly.

"Come on then you nutter, we're going to be late for work!"

The woman let her friend go and quickly wiped the beginnings of tears from her eyes as they hurried into the hospital they both learned and worked in.

**Kilo Deployment - Plus 72 hours, UBCS Deployment - Plus 60 hours**

McNeil limped into what appeared to be a storeroom and squinted into the darkened room, he reached over and flicked the light switch several times before scoffing. He holstered his pistol and fumbled around for his flashlight, finding it he clicked it on and looked around, the light found its way around the walls and finally found the breakers for lights in the main part of the building, he limped over to them and put his flashlight in his mouth while he pulled the boxes open and began resetting the breakers; when he had finished the last one the room he was in lit up and he put his flashlight away and surveyed his handiwork. Until he was struck from behind hard enough to cause him to loose consciousness and fall to the floor, the last thing he saw was a pair of darkened gas mask eye lenses, then his world went black.

"Finally caught up with the bastard, I'm surprised you didn't just kill him." Gray said while checking McNeil to see if he was still alive.

"String him up, we'll gang thro' his gear while he's oot. Whin he wakes up, we'll blether tae him then." Ghost said as he slung his weapon.

"He's not going anywhere now boss, take a break for a bit." Gray said as he sat down and pulled a ration bar out of his pack.

Ghost looked around briefly before nodding in agreement and propping himself up on a large crate.

**Kilo Deployment - Plus 77 hours, UBCS Deployment - Plus 65 hours**

McNeil's vision started to come back and he groaned loudly as it came back to him in a bright blur. He tried to rub the back of his head but quickly found he was bound and hanging from a hook set in a cross beam. He saw his uniform, minus his pants in a pile on the floor near him; standing over it was Ghost, who was digging through the various pockets in his shirt and vest. The other USS member looked up from the rest of his equipment when he groaned.

"Boss, sleeping beauty's waking up finally."

"Aboot time McNeil." Ghost said as he stood up and walked over to stand in front of him, McNeil couldn't tell where the other one, Gray, he remembered, had gone with a jury rigged field light set up in front of him, keeping him blind.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

He was met with a sharp pain in his side that caused him to cry out in pain.

"What the f-!"

A series of punches delivered to his face, side, and back silenced any protest he had.

"Yer wasting mah time, ye worthless piece o' shite, tell me whaur th' data is."

"I told you, I lost it."

Another hit to his right side this time, it felt like Gray was wearing a pair of brass knuckles and was deliberately aiming for areas that would deliver the most pain and discomfort but wouldn't risk causing too much harm.

"I was being chased, you saw it! I dropped it somewhere in that damn park!"

"Ye'r lying tae me." Ghost replied coldly causing Gray to hit him again, this time in his shoulder and left side of his face.

Blood was running from his nose and slightly from his mouth, McNeil spit some out and looked back up into the mirrored lenses of his would be killer.

"Fine, tear apart my gear, you'll never find it; schmuck!"

At this Gray hit him several more times in the face, the sides, the stomach, and even the sides of his head.

"You killed my friend you motherfucker!" Gray shouted before hitting McNeil hard in the side of the face causing him to rock violently in his bindings.

"Stoap!" Ghost said bringing Gray's lash out to a deliberate slow end.

McNeil could see the hate in Gray's eyes, even through the gas mask lenses, which caused him to start to laugh before spitting out one of his teeth and another large glob of blood. When he looked up again Ghost grabbed him by the throat and started to choke and crush his larynx.

"A'm getting real tired o` yer fuck-all games; ye cam 'ere tae huv a go 'n' git oot o' th' toon, that tells me that ye hae yer data 'n' hae hid it somewhere, ah will cut ye apairt if ah hae tae. Yin lest time, where's yer data disk?"

"It's...up...my...ass...lyme...fuck..."

Ghost growled before swinging McNeil back slightly in his bindings, before McNeil could reach the apex of his slight swing Ghost brought his fist squarely into his throat, causing him to rock violently again, he gagged, felt like he was going to throw up, and felt his vision go out partly. Gray grabbed McNeil and pulled his head sharply back while forcing his back to arch uncomfortably, it caused his airway to clear instantly and made him gag again. He was left at eye level with Ghost again while he fought to catch his breath and regain some of his composure.

"Lest chance, whaur is yer data?"

"Do you even know why they sent you after me?" McNeil asked wearily.

I dinna care McNeil, A'm loyal 'n' follow mah orders. Ye trying tae hulp oot some kind o' competitor?"

"So narrow minded, even you can see what the potential of this virus is."

"Aye, I kin."

"The data, and a pure sample of both _T_ and _G_, name your price anywhere you go. You've got to look at the bigger picture Ghost, Birkin did, too bad it brought the watch dogs in and got himself killed."

"Alpha Team." Ghost breathed.

"Something tells me that you two are the only USS survivors in the city, the whole operation even." McNeil replied in a mocking tone.

"Got it!" Gray called out.

"Hidden pocket in the lining of his vest." Gray continued.

"Verify it." Ghost replied.

Gray pulled out Schaper's laptop and plugged the data disk into the slot on it, after a few moments he ejected it and placed it and the laptop back into the pack.

"Confirmed, it's what we're looking for." He said.

"Ghost, wait, listen to me; let me go, you can tell management that I got killed by something after getting my data from me, don't leave me here to die!"

Ghost stared at McNeil for a long moment before pulling out his sidearm and putting a round in between McNeil's eyes, killing him instantly. Ghost holstered his pistol, turned on his heel, and started marching out of the building with Gray a couple steps behind him.

After getting out of the room Ghost stopped abruptly, turned and in a fluid motion pulled an incendiary grenade from his belt, pulled the pin and tossed it back into the room where McNeil's corpse was. It detonated and ignited the gasoline that they had poured around the room and at McNeil's feet while he was unconscious. The two didn't linger, knowing that the fire and the noise would bring the undead and the other creatures that had been appearing toward them. Gray looked back briefly and spoke softly.

"For out of the ground we were taken, for the dust we are...and the dust we shall return."

"That's fae th' Bible, Genesis richt?" Ghost asked as they got back out into the park.

"Yeah, a paraphrase of Chapter 3, versus 17, thru 19. Can we go home now boss?"

"Aye, mission complete laddie, we juist hae tae git tae a extraction point." Ghost replied.

They started making their way back toward the city, Ghost had attempted to get on the radio and advise command that their mission was completed but for some reason he was getting no answer.

"Damn it, worthless piece o' junk." Ghost was saying about the radios.

"Murphy's Law boss." Gray said chuckling.

"Maybe if we get closer back toward the city?" He added.

"Aye, maybe." Ghost said.

**Kilo Deployment - Plus 82 hours, UBCS Deployment - Plus 70 hours**

They had finally made it back into the city having to go around parts of the park, Ghost had stopped briefly to get their bearings while Gray watched the streets around them. While looking at the map, Ghost pulled out an energy bar and started eating it, even with his face hidden behind a gas mask Gray could tell that he was fatigued. He himself was feeling tired and hungry, but they were so close to escape.

"Boss?"

"Whit?"

"I say we rest up a while, we've been at it almost non stop. I know I could use the break."

Ghost nodded at this before looking back down at his map again.

"Thir's an apartment building that we kin likelie git tae fae 'ere, shuid be aboot hauf a mile doon th' road." Ghost said pointing.

"Right behind you boss." Gray said as they picked themselves up and continued.

**Elsewhere...**

The woman stood at the nurse's station and was watching the news, amazingly, was still covering the outbreak in Raccoon City. The government had sent in 'inspectors' to try and speed up the process of identifying what had caused the outbreak, how to contain it, and if necessary, clean it. She rolled her eyes and scoffed at the TV for what seemed to be the tenth time during her shift, she went around the intensive care area and checked the patients there; she updated a couple of charts while quietly humming to herself. When she finished that she went down to the X-Ray department and found her friend just finishing up with a patient.

"Hey there."

"Aye-up there, anything new on the news?"

"Same old stuff, seems like everyone is getting antsy about it though."

"Think summat bad will happen?"

"I hope not, but from what they were able to show, how could it get any worse?"

The exchange student shrugged while finishing the results of the X-Ray, after a couple minutes of tense silence the woman broke down and asked the question she had been trying to avoid.

"What would happen if they couldn't contain the outbreak?"

The exchange student looked up at her friend over the rim of her glasses before speaking.

"What?"

"Umbrella sent in teams to find out what exactly happened and to try and stop it right? Well, what if they couldn't stop whatever happened and they weren't able to contain it, what would Umbrella's and for that matter the government's response be?"

"Well, destruction of the heavily contaminated areas for starters, but the teams would most likely be doing that or under orders to do that. Prevention of spreading further could be accomplished in that manner as well. As for the government's response, worst case scenario, destroy the city and surrounding area. Let's hope it doesn't come down to that yeah?" The exchange replied looking up from her work.

"Yeah, let's hope so.

"Come on then, let's go see what the cafeteria has to eat."

The two women wandered toward the cafeteria set aside for hospital employees and got food for themselves, they continued to talk about different things while eating and watching the news coverage of the outbreak.

**Kilo Deployment - Plus 90 hours, UBCS Deployment - Plus 78 hours**

Ghost nudged Gray waking him, he sat up and leaned against a wall rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he looked up at Ghost and took a bowl that he was offering, it was warm and he could see steam rising from it.

"What'd you manage to find?" Gray asked stirring the bowls contents with the spoon in it.

"Canned brose, cooked it oan a gas stove ah fun doon below, sorry if tis tae het laddie; tis getting ill doon thare 'n' ah wanted tae be quick sae as tae nae draw attention." Ghost replied as he started eating his own bowl of soup.

"I'm not complaining boss, any word from command yet?"

"None yit, that's starting tae bother me. Ah figure we kin heid toward the clock tower, we kin call fir extraction there."

They finished eating, picked themselves up and started toward the St. Michael clock tower and the hope of a quick extraction. Along the way they were faced with several reanimated and the different mutations that were developing due to the virus spreading; they had run into several creatures that had five long appendages that ended in claws, muscle tissue that appeared to ripping out of its brown colored exoskeleton, two heads sat atop the creature, both dripping what could only be some sort of poison or venom. They found them in the back alleys near some of the older looking buildings, having killed one, Gray insisted on getting a closer look at it.

"Fascinating, gross, but still fascinating."

"Whit dae ye think it mutated fae?" Ghost asked keeping a watch on the streets around them.

"My guess: a fly, flea, maybe some sort of arthropod; look at how the muscle tissue is tearing away the exoskeleton. I don't think this was on purpose, like with the Tyrants or the Hunters, I think this may have been accidental, almost like the dogs we encountered."

"Or th' worms." Ghost said absently remembering the leech like worms they found in the sewers.

"Yeah, or the spiders too." Gray said chuckling.

He pulled out a syringe and started to take a sample of the creature, noting that the blood filling the syringe was green and not red in color.

"Wow, Hemocyanin in the blood instead of Hemoglobin."

"Is that how come tis green laddie?" Ghost asked.

"Yes, too bad it really doesn't tell me what this thing mutated from. Makes you wonder what all was in Birkin's lab."

Ghost half scoffed, half laughed at the curiosity of Gray, when he turned back Gray had taken his helmet and mask off and was going over the corpse in more detail.

"Laddie, ye might wantae put your mask and helmet back on."

"Just a second, something doesn't sit right with me on this type of mutation, it couldn't have happened by pure accident."

What the two hadn't noticed was another one of the creatures had been stalking them, it was slowly crawling down the side of the building, waiting for its opportunity to strike. Gray had finally started to rise from the side of the corpse when the one on the wall spit down at him, the poison hit Gray in the back of the head and neck, causing him to look up as the creature spit again; it landed on his face causing Gray to cry out in pain as the paralysis inducing poison caused Gray's body to become wracked with muscle seizures. Ghost turned to see another of the creatures drop down from the side of a building and grab hold of Gray, he brought his rifle up and watched in horror as it buried a tongue like appendage through the back of his skull, Ghost heard a slight sucking sound as the creature fed. Ghost quickly pulled a grenade from his belt and threw it at the creature, it was too busy feeding to realize what was thrown at it, by then it was too late.

"A'm sorry laddie." Ghost whispered as the grenade detonated, killing both the creature and Gray.

Ghost let his shoulders sag slightly as he looked at the corpse of his team member and the mutation that killed him, he shook his head as he turned away and started jogging out of the alleyway and towards the clock tower. He adjusted his radio as he crossed over the wall into the tower grounds.

"Kilo team tae ony Umbrella air assets, respond."

"Falcon Six, go ahead Kilo."

"Mission complete, movin` tae secondary extraction point, flare fur signal."

"Understood Kilo, I'm inbound."

Ghost made his way inside the clock tower, once there, he fought his way towards the top of the tower, encountering several mutated spiders and some of the reanimated people that thought to take shelter there. He got to the top and struck a signal flare against the wall then held it up as he heard the helicopter make its approach, he tossed it over the side before jumping to the open door of the helicopter. As the pilot started making his ascent the crew chief looked over at him and watched as he pulled his helmet and gas mask off.

"Weren't there four of you?"

Ghost looked down into the lenses of his mask for a long moment before looking back up at the crew chief.

"Thay fell behind."

His gaze drifted towards Schaper's back pack, he'd been carrying it since the technician had fallen in the park, it contained the laptop with the data backup source codes and the data that he and Gray had retrieved from the corrupt UBCS Supervisor McNeil. He looked up at the crew chief again and took the offered headset, he put it on and heard the voice of the pilot.

"Where to Ghost man?"

"Priority package, tak' me back tae base." Ghost replied looking out of the open door.

"Roger that."

Before the pilot could say more another transmission was broadcast across the general channel.

"This is Alpha, respond."

"Falcon Six to Nighthawk, I've got a priority RTB, can you get that one?"

"No problem Falcon Six. This is Nighthawk, go ahead Alpha."

"I've secured G, I'm all that is left of Alpha Team, I'm enroute to the rendezvous point."

Nighthawk scoffed before replying.

"Once again only you survived Mr. Death; roger that, don't be late."

Ghost was grinning wickedly as he watched the other helicopter start towards the Raccoon City Police station, he noticed the crew chief was watching him wearily, this only amused him more.

"Th' Ghost bides eternal 'n' th' Death cannae die."

**Epilogue...**

The couple walked along the beach holding hands watching the sun set over the water, she couldn't take her eyes off of him, when she had gotten his page she couldn't believe what she was seeing. When he showed up at her apartment, she could barely contain herself, she promised him that she would be there for him just like he was always there for her. Beaming with pride she showed him her nursing certificate and, with a little help from her exchange student friend, a job offer with Umbrella. Ghost smiled and asked her about her ordeal, he also apologized for not being able to communicate with her when he was deployed; they laughed about the one page he did receive from her while he was in Raccoon City. When they had stopped for lunch on the way to the beach they saw the news report about the presidential sanction to sterilize Raccoon City and the surrounding area to prevent further spreading of the viral outbreak. The woman seemed perturbed by this outcome the most, talking at length about it to Ghost as she and her classmate had done previously.

They had been at the beach all day and after watching the sunset, found a quiet out of the way restaurant to have a romantic dinner together. After the dinner she had hinted at getting a hotel room for the night and drive back to her apartment in the morning, Ghost teased her about trying to get him all alone so she could seduce him, she blushed before coming back with one of her witty responses. The next morning after having breakfast their romantic get away was interrupted by Ghost's pager going off, he found a phone and called the number that had shown up on his pager, after getting into an argument on who paged him and why, he was finally able to get some answers.

"Richt then, ah will git thare as soon as ah kin." Ghost said before hanging up the phone and turning to a curious look.

"Sorry loue, git tae cut this short."

"It's ok, I understand, duty calls." She replied pouting.

"Dinnae look so glum lass, I've still got to take you back to your apartment." He said with a wink.

She giggled in response as they got back into her car and drove away. When they had gotten back and he had changed into his uniform, she held him close and kissed him deeply while he said goodbye.

"You better come back in one piece." She demanded as she gently ran her hand down the side of his face letting her fingers trace his goatee.

"Wouldn't dream o' anythin' different loue." He replied before kissing her again.

When he got back onto base and checked into a bunkroom, he made a quick phone call to let her know that he made it safely and to give her the number to the phone, he told her that he may not be there long, but would page her if anything came up. Afterwards he headed towards operations and found Hunk waiting for him in front of the entrance, arms folded across his broad chest.

"Look what the cat drug in." Hunk said grinning as Ghost approached.

"Nae sae ill keekin yersel' thare laddie." Ghost replied as the two gripped palm to wrist in greeting.

"Whit's a' this then?" Ghost asked motioning them to go inside the operations command center.

"Some important mission was all they told me." Hunk replied.

They didn't have to go far before they were met by Commander Desmond Askew, the man had his usual stern look as he ruffled paperwork in his hands.

"Good morning gentlemen."

"Morning sir."

"Guid mornin' sur."

"This mission is important, management seems to have taken notice of your achievements gentlemen; you were asked for personally by Alfred Ashford, Hunk."

"Whit's the mission sur?" Ghost asked getting right down to business.

"Transportation, you will escort a container to Rockfort Island and deliver it to the base's commander."

"What are the contents of the container sir?" Hunk asked.

"Those details have not been provided to me." Askew replied.

"That's a wee bit unorthodox sir." Ghost said with concern.

"I have been told that it is not our concern at this time Ghost, if the need arises, you will be informed; is that understood?"

"Aye sir." Ghost replied not rising to the bait.

"We'll get it done sir, not to worry." Hunk replied taking the order sheets from Commander Askew.

"See that you do gentlemen." Askew replied before waving the two operatives away.

The two left the command center discussing how big a team to take and what equipment to bring.

"Sin whin did we become a delivery service?"

"I guess we'll find out." Hunk replied.


End file.
